Without Books Podcasts Might Be Just What the Doctor Ordered

The American Shakespeare Center (ASC), a regional theatre company located in Staunton, Virginia maintains a popular podcast.

***

There’s been some rarely mentioned downsides to the spread of the coronavirus and the subsequent quarantine, one of the most prominent (to many) has been the closing of many of the nation’s public libraries. Not being able to access the public library has been especially annoying for me.

Before moving into this small apartment I’m living in, I donated boxes, boxes, and boxes of books to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. I just finished David W. Blight’s superb biography on Frederick Douglass (“Prophet of Freedom”) and am currently enjoying Carl Bernstein and Marco Politi’s absorbing history of John Paul II, “His Holiness’’ published in 1996.

After I’m through with that, my reading material gets dangerously thin.

I have a number of friends who engage in these marathon sessions of Netflix, some watching for eight consecutive hours. I do subscribe to Netflix, but I can never imagine watching more than two consecutive hours of streaming without losing my mind.

So, what to do?

Suddenly, I began thinking about podcasts as a possible alternative to books. I must admit, I haven’t really listened to many podcasts, I always preferred reading.

When did podcasts actually begin?

In 2004, former MTV video jockey Adam Curry and software developer Dave Winer were credited with creating the first podcast. In 2005, President George W. Bush was the first U.S. President to have his weekly address delivered as a podcast. That same year, “podcast’’ was declared the word of the year by New Oxford American Dictionary.

Also, in 2004, “podcast’’ was used for the first time by journalist Ben Hammersley in the Guardian newspaper on February 11, 2004. 

After doing a little research, I was stunned to learn how popular podcasts have become since 2004. More than one-third of Americans age 12 and over (104 Million) are consuming podcasts regularly, up significantly from 2019, according to Edison Research and Triton Digital.

What’s more, “podcasts now reach over 100 million Americans every month,” Tom Webster, SVP of Edison Research reports.

So, with so many podcasts out there, I thought I would reach out to a number of experts on different subject in order to get some recommendations on the most popular podcasts.

Thankfully, many were kind enough to share their favorites. I list them according to subject.

NOTE: I didn’t try to find podcasts about current events or politics, since most of them mirror each other in reporting the same mundane narratives about President Donald Trump and the economic impact of COVID-19.

 Charles Dickens

• In Our Time Podcast from the BBC. Melvyn Bragg, an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian, discusses the achievements of Charles Dickens.

• The University of Oxford Podcast features a number of lively scholarly discussions about different facets of Charles Dickens life and works. 

• In 2012, during the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Dickens, The University of Warwick assembled experts from the University and other institutions to explore the genius of Dickens, his real life experiences, knowledge, philanthropy, character-rich novels and the Victorian era, in which he lived.

• Carolyn Oulton, Director of the International Centre for Victorian Women Writers (ICVWW) and Professor of Victorian Literature at Canterbury Christ Church University, has launched a mapping project in which she takes viewers around Kent (England), connecting the places in the South East England county associated with Dickens, such as where parts of David Copperfield were written or the view from the Swiss chalet where Dickens was working on the morning of his death.

William Shakespeare

• The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, an independent registered educational charity based in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, among other undertakings, features a podcast in which Shakespearean experts address a number of compelling topics about the “Bard of Avon,” such as one show in which Professor Sir Stanley Wells discusses how Shakespeare typically wrote a play or what the sonnets tells us about Shakespeare.

Peter Holland, Professor of Shakespearean Studies at the University of Notre Dame, said that Wells lectures are “wonderfully clear and engaging, a joy to listen to, a distillation of a lifetime of studying Shakespeare. “

• Another highly recommended Shakespeare podcast is the Public Theater’s new venture, Brave New Shakespeare: 

James Shapiro, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, who specializes in Shakespeare at Columbia University, explained it to me, “you can listen (in English, Spanish, etc.) to first-rate actors perform a scene or speech from Shakespeare—and then you get to give it a shot yourself, and post your own version.” “I much prefer,” Shapiro says,” recommending that to the more passive experience of most podcasts.”

• The American Shakespeare Center (ASC), a regional theatre company located in Staunton, Virginia  also features a highly recommended podcast for theater lovers. ASC not only focuses on plays by Shakespeare, but also his contemporaries: Ben Jonson, Beaumont the Fletcher, Christopher Marlowe; and works related to Shakespeare, such as James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter, and Bob Carlton’s Return to Forbidden Planet.

 Poetry/Literature

• How To Read Podcast  in which each episode is a short conversation – approximately 15 minutes – with a literary scholar who engages listeners with a smart conversation on different themes of literature, attracting readers from the professional to the curious.

• Jacket 2 Podcast is a collaboration of the Kelly Writers House, PennSound, and the Poetry Foundation which offers commentary on modern and contemporary poetry and poetics.

• That Book Podcast, hosted by Hannah Weaver and Michael Goldsmith, provides updates on everything everyone’s reading (and NOT reading, side-eye straight to Thrift Books) in lockdown. 

• Being Podcast  Pádraig Ó Tuama  is a poet, theologian, and conflict mediator. He is the inaugural poet laureate of The On Being Project and hosts the Poetry Unbound.He was the former leader of Corrymeela, Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation organization. His books include two volumes of poetry, a daily prayer book, and a memoir, In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World.

• Charles Olson’s 1966 reading of “Maximus of Gloucester to You,” which one scholar considered the “greatest poem reading of all.” Olson was a second-generation modern American poet inspired by Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, the Beat poets, and the San Francisco Renaissance. 

Music History

Historian, composer, pianist, speaker, and author, Robert Greenberg (a Brooklyn N.Y. native) features a podcast every Monday about different themes of classical music.

Baseball

 Jacob Pomrenke, director of editorial content for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and editor of “Scandal on the South Side: the 1919 Chicago White Sox,” was kind enough to recommend the following baseball podcasts.

• SABRcast with Rob Neyer, is a wildly popular podcast with timely topics about the national pastime.

• Effectively Wild is updated three times a week; co-hosted by Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer, Sam Miller of ESPN, and Meg Rowley of FanGraphs, with witty banter about various baseball issues, which includes guest interviews.

• This Week in Baseball History, a weekly podcast devoted to the history of baseball, hosted by Mike Bates and Bill Parker, the co-founders of The Platoon Advantage.

• The Infinite Inning podcast hosted by Steven Goldman, former consulting editor of Baseball Prospectus dealing with a number of baseball issues, including topical items in the news.

Other popular baseball pods include:

• David Gardner, a staff writer for Bleacher Report, hosts a unique podcast in which he deals with How to Survive Without Sports.

• Baseball Tonight with ESPN’s Buster Onley

• Girl at the Game  hosted by Gabrielle Starr and NESN’s Alexandra; a podcast by women, but for everyone.

• Mike Safo’s Podcast A New York City police officer who fell in love with Kentucky basketball and hangs with Kentuckians at a UK pub on W. 33 St. (Jack Demsey's). He finds baseball people and asks about their corners, or former corners, of the world.

• Anchor: Writer and freelance journalist Hillel Kuttler hosts ABC’s Athletics Beyond Coronavirus, which features discussions with people in sports about how they’re faring during these challenging times.

• Caught Listening hosted by cancer survivor and sports director of Public House Media, Christian Heimall, who offers listeners a different slice of America’s National Pastime. 

Melvyn Bragg, an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian, discusses the history of ideas, and explores subjects in culture and science in the “Our Time" podcast by the BBC.

Photo Credit: BBC

***

History

• BackStory hosted by a number of noted U.S. historians, is a weekly podcast that addresses topical events in America, providing listeners with unique perspectives on a particular theme or subject and how many of these events shaped how America is viewed in the present age.

• The Organization of American Historians, an organization founded in 1907 as the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history, maintains a podcast, which features interviews with authors of articles in their journal. As they look into the future and as podcasts become more popular, JAH hopes to include conversations with award-winning authors of books on American history. 

Philip J. Deloria, Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Harvard University, finds JAH’s podcast to be “lively, and certainly off the beaten track in terms of topics.”

• Liz Covert, a historian of early America who practices scholarly history, public history, and digital humanities, primarily as the Digital Projects Editor for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture maintains a podcast, Ben Franklin’s World in which she hopes to connect listeners with the work of professional historians who shed dramatic light on events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Covert’s latest episode, for example, deals with the origins of the 11^th Amendment, the first amendment adopted after the Bill of Rights which restricts the ability of individuals to bring suit against states in federal court.

• Whiskey Rebellion, a podcast hosted by Frank Cogliano and David Silkenat who both teach at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. 

In their latest episode, with more than 30 million Americans filing for unemployment over the past 6 weeks, the United States faces unemployment levels not seen since the Great Depression. These two engaging historians discuss the history of unemployment in the US, and explore what lessons could be learned.

• The commercial free Ottoman History Podcast , which began in March of 2011, has grown to be one of the largest digital resources for academic discussion concerning the Ottoman Empire and the modern Middle East, which includes contributions from hundreds of experts in the field.

• The Fall of Rome Podcast hosted by history podcaster and writer, Patrick Wyman, is being met with rave reviews, for among things, its clear and smooth-tongued retelling of the historic decline of the Western Roman Empire.

• Wyman also hosts the compelling Tides of History Podcast in which, through different epic events in history, he helps listeners understand our world and how it got to be the way it us.

• Another big hit with historians and history buffs is Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time (BBC) podcast which features gripping discussions with expert guests on a number of topics, including: literature, politics, philosophy, religion, and music.  Bragg is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian.

Religion

• Jewish History Matters Podcast: is hosted by Jason Lustig, a scholar of modern Jewish history and culture at Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies. Lustig also serves as executive producer of Jewish History Matters.

According to its website, “looking to American history, European history, the histories of colonialism, science, or philosophy, let alone other topics, we cannot overlook the Jews both as people who played a part in it as well as an important example of the place of minorities in these societies and histories. To disregard the Jews would be to neglect the nuances and complexities of history.”

• Erik Estrada, assistant professor of religion at Texas Christian University, runs a podcast, "Catholic Heritage Show," which is an overview of Catholic history and doctrine. Estrada tells me that “in the future, we will be doing more in studio recordings on various topics in Church history.” Estrada’s wife, Mary Estrada, hosts a podcast titled "Catholic Heritage Spirituality"  which covers the Catholic spiritual tradition from a historical perspective.

• Gabriel Reynolds, Professor of Islamic Studies and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, hosts a podcast “Minding Scripture” in which he teams with two other colleagues (one Muslim, the other Jewish) in discussing the Bible and the Qur'an. Reynolds said they generated a great response to their first nine episodes.

• On Being, a Webby Award-winning public radio conversation and podcast, hosted by Krista Tippett, which examines what it calls the, "animating questions at the center of human life: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live?"

Online Courses

• Yale University offers free online courses taught by the university’s most distinguished scholars, which includes a full set of class lectures on video, a syllabus, suggested readings, exams, and problem sets. The lectures are available as downloadable videos, and as an audio-only version. In addition, searchable transcripts of each lecture are provided. Some of the courses offered include: “Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner,” “Financial Markets (2008),” “The American Novel since 1945,” “Roman Architecture,” and the “Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877” taught by Pulitzer Prize winning historian, David. W. Blight.

• Gresham College Lectures offers free videos of their scholars teaching courses on a number of subjects, including history, arts and literature, religion, law, and a host of other disciplines. Gresham College was founded in 1597 and has been providing free lectures within the City of London for over 400 years.

COVID-19:  Historic Background of Contagious Diseases

 Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 Podcast which takes a sharp look at the impact of epidemic diseases on western society and culture from the bubonic plague to HIV/AIDS and recent experiences of SARS and the swine flu. This podcast is hosted by Frank Snowden, professor of history at Yale University, who has previously published: “Naples in the Times of Cholera”(1995) and “The Conquest of Malaria: Italy, 1900-1962” (2006).

Snowden’s lectures were delivered 10 years ago, but as Keith Wrightson, a Yale historian who specializes in early modern England, tells me, “they were never more relevant.”

• History of Now Podcasts  on the history of epidemics, state regulation and other issues hosted by Christopher Clark, Regius Professor at Cambridge, and author of "The Sleepwalkers:  How Europe Went to War in 1914" (among other books). 

• Inside Stories: COVID-19  A terrific podcast in which listeners are asked to share their stories related to COVID-19.

China-U.S. Relations/Culture

• The Harvard on China Podcast a world leading center on China is hosted and produced by James Evans and edited by Liza Tarbell at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

• Founded in 2010, the Sinica Podcast is dedicated to discussion of current affairs in China with journalists, writers, academics, policy makers, business people and anyone with something compelling to say about the country that's reshaping the world. Hosted by Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn.

--Bill Lucey

[email protected]

May 4, 2020